Here’s a savory veggie option, finally! These rolls are simple yet so delicious, and feel slightly healthier since they’re packed with cabbage, green beans, carrots and onion. My family raved about them.
Top tips from me: 1) If you don’t already know how to julienne cut carrots, French style slice beans. or shred green cabbage, I recommend finding an article or YouTube video to look at as you go so that your veggies are thin and evenly mixed in the filling. 2) Don’t overcook your veggies! Only soften them. And cooling the filling is important, since a hot filling would break up the pastry. 3) Same tip with the roll pastries: thaw them overnight in the fridge and don’t let them dry out in the sun or on the counter. Maria also says to make sure they’re covered by plastic to avoid the pastries drying out. 4) This time, however, Maria recommends using the whole pastry since the veggies are a harder filling and it more completely covers them. This did make for a bit of an easier rolling experience. 5) These did absorb a bit more oil. The frying experience is similar to the pork, though they did brown more nicely due to there being no pork fat. You can use a paper towel to drain that excess oil, however, Maria suggests a rack instead since the rolls can reabsorb oil from the paper towels. 6) Not a tip, but just saying that these went really well with Maria’s garlic chili vinegar, and did reheat nicely in the oven later that night.
Time: Since it took me a bit to properly cut my vegetables, but then I was much better at rolling after trying the pork lumpia, this recipe also took me about an hour. It only made about 10 rolls.
Ingredients: 2 tbsp vegetable oil — 1 cup julienne cut carrots, about 3 carrots — 1 cup shredded green cabbage — 1 cup sliced string green beans, French style — 1/4 cup chopped white onions — 1/2 tbsp minced garlic — salt and pepper to taste — ‘TYJ’ Brand Spring Roll Pastry — 2 cups vegetable oil for frying — 1 egg for sealing — Dine with Claudine’s garlic chili vinegar or Mae Ploy Sweet Garlic Chili Sauce for dipping
Instructions:
– Sauté all your julienned vegetables separately in a medium-high heat pan for about 5 minutes until slightly softened.
– Sauté your chopped onion and garlic until translucent, about 3 minutes.
– Mix all vegetables together and season with salt and pepper.
– Cool down your vegetable mixture before starting to roll for about 20-30 minutes.
– Place your wrapper on a surface with the tip pointing up, creating a diamond shap. Using 2 tablespoons of filling, put your vegetables on the bottom side of the wrapper and shape into a log, about 2 inches away from the bottom tip.
– Fold the bottom side over the filling and then the left side, and overlap the right. Start rolling away from you until you create an envelope. Dab egg wash on the tip and seal the roll.
– Heat up the oil until it’s 350 F using a heavy bottom pan.
– Fry the lumpia for 4-5 minutes on each side until golden brown all the way through.
– Set lumpia on a wire rack over a pan to drain excess oil.
– Dip in sauce of choice and enjoy!
Did you make this recipe and love it? Have any suggestions? Leave a comment!
These crispy, herby, umami rolls are paired perfectly with a vinegar or sweet sauce. They make the perfect snack, lunch or dinner with perfectly cooked tender pork and crispy shells.
Top tips from me: 1) Make sure to thaw your roll pastries in the fridge overnight! And do not leave them sitting in the sun or out on the counter too long after thawing or they will dry out. I made that mistake with one packet. I also only used about 10-12 sheets since I cut them in half. 2) Also, you don’t necessarily need to slice your pastry in half, but Maria said she prefers to do that for her lumpia, so I tried it too! Definitely made for a more bite size and crunchier lumpia. 3) Finely dice all your produce! 4) Be ready to get your hands dirty. The best way to make these rolls is to shape the filling yourself and then roll them up, including adding the egg wash. 5) The rolling is a bit tricky and your lumpia likely won’t look uniform or fully sealed until your fifth try. Don’t beat yourself up about it! Just be patient and try your best to tightly tuck in the sides before adding the egg wash and rolling the lumpia closed. 6) If you have a thermometer, make sure to check the temperature of your oil. If not, let it heat up for at least 5-7 minutes. 7) If your rolls aren’t super tight, some of the fat from the pork may come out and leave brown bits on the rolls. It happened to me, and while it doesn’t look super pretty, I promise they still crunch up and taste glorious. 8) I sliced my first test roll in half to make sure the pork was cooked through before cooking the rest so I’d recommend trying that.
Time: It can be hard for me to estimate this sometimes since I stop to take photos and videos all day, but I’d say these can take about an hour with all the rolling, frying, then cooling. This made about 20 rolls for me.
Ingredients: 1 lb ground pork — 1/4 cup chopped parsley — 1/2 medium onion, finely diced —1/4 cup finely diced carrots — 1/4 cup chopped scallions — 1 tbsp garlic powder — 1 tsp ground ginger — 1/2 tbsp salt — 1 tbsp soy sauce — 1 tsp sesame oil — 1 tsp black pepper — 2 eggs (1 for filling, 1 for sealing) — 1 pack of 25 pieces ‘TYJ Spring Roll Pastry’ — 1/2 gallon of vegetable oil for frying — Dine with Claudine’s garlic chili vinegar or Mae Ploy Sweet Garlic Chili Sauce for dipping
Instructions:
– Chop up the parsley and scallions and add them to a large mixing bowl. Then, dice the onion and carrots and add those to the bowl.
– Add the pork, garlic powder, ground ginger, salt, pepper, soy sauce, sesame oil and one egg to the bowl.
– Using a spatula, mix the filling until well combined.
– Slice your spring roll pastries in half diagonally to create two triangles. Whisk second egg in a small bowl to create an egg wash. Lay the halved pastries out next to the bowl of filling and egg wash.
– Take about 2-3 tbsp of filling and place towards the bottom of the triangle pastry. Shape it into a log about 3-4 inches long.
– Start to roll the pastry over the filling until it is covered, then fold the two ends in to create an envelope.
– Dip your pointer finger in the egg wash and dab it along the ‘flap’ of the envelope.
– Roll the rest of the lumpia closed and make sure the triangle ‘flap’ is sealed.
– Once finished rolling, you can freeze the rolls for cooking later or for an hour or so to make extra crispy lumpia.
– Heat up your oil in a pan with a thick bottom until it is 350 F. Fry the lumpia for about 8-10 minutes, flipping halfway through and ensuring each side is golden brown.
– Make sure you immediately transfer the lumpia to a cooling rack on top of a sheet pan to let excess oil drip off.
– Dip in sauce of choice and enjoy!
Did you make this recipe and love it? Have any suggestions? Leave a comment!
Fry up a Filipino dish with sauce from a home-based chef in the April edition.
Welcome back to The Sunday Roast! It’s (again) been a long month with highs and lows, but I’m still working to grow this newsletter, and I’ve now reached125 subscribers! So, please don’t forget to fill out this survey for audience feedback. I need more input on how I can evolve The Sunday Roast, so I extended the deadline until May 1. There’s a little incentive for you to take the 6 to 10-minute survey as well; each person will be entered to win a $20 gift card to Compass Coffee (or we will coordinate another business if you’re not located in D.C.)
This month: After reflecting on the horrific rise of violence and discrimination against AAPI people in the U.S., I set out to consciously support AAPI-owned businesses more frequently. And since I spend a lot of time on Instagram, I found influencers featuring those local eateries, home-based businesses and ones out in the suburbs. The person behind of my favorite accounts, titled Ninja Grubs, actually doubles as an uber talented home-based chef as well. I reached out to Maria and she was happy to talk about one of the prime products on her menu: lumpia.
Meet Maria.
Maria wears many (chef) hats as the face behind both the iconic D.C. food blog Ninja Grubs and her home-based catering business specializing in Filipino food, Dine with Claudine. After training as a chef at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America, Maria first started Ninja Foods to document all the food that she ate and made during her time there. She kept growing the account as she’s spent the last seven years in the food industry, and she’s now got over 2,700 followers watching her videos and following her DMV restaurant recommendations! Maria says she always loved taking pictures so se was glad that people liked to follow her journey throughout her career.
You may be wondering why her business, then, carries a different name. Maria’s middle name is Claudine, and only her family calls her by that name, so to make her business more intimate, she named it Dine with Claudine. Maria says she wants her customers to have a dining experience like they are a part of her family. She has been catering with her business here and there for a couple years, making wedding cakes, cupcakes and Filipino food for friends and family — and we’ll dive more into her Filipino heritage with the recipe story below.
But once the pandemic hit, Maria had to figure out how to adjust and decided to start selling her hit food from her home. She started a pick-up service selling frozen Filipino foods, sauces, baked goods and more, which she says she’s been doing for the majority of her time. Her biggest priority is to keep socially distanced and have everyone stay healthy while still providing that part-of-the-family experience. Maria says she had become more aware of her surroundings and become even more of a “clean freak” as a result of the pandemic. As a private chef, she’s always looking for more ways to improve her cooking, but not having access to a big industrial kitchen does present challenges when it comes to catering for bigger events. Once the season gets warm and things reopen a bit more, she’ll have more events for sure.
Maria grew up eating Filipino food. Plus, different Asian cuisines are her favorite to eat and make as a chef.
As a result, she decided to offer Filipino food on her menu at Dine with Claudine. Maria says she wants more people to know the not only the different flavors that Filipino cuisine has to offer, but also the culture, the way they eat and the certain practices revolving around food. She can share the knowledge of Filipino cuisine and culture through her curated menu at her company.
Growing up, her family would make a traditional Filipino egg roll, that typically comes filled with a ground pork mixture or matchbox vegetables, for nearly any family gathering or holiday.
Now, this roll — called lumpia — is one of the main products Maria offers for her pick-up service since, she says, she loves to make and eat them. She, of course, offers the pork and veggie flavors, and she commented that the pork ones are “a classic and pork in general is a big thing with Filipinos. We love pork.” The vegetable lumpia are also a traditional recipe that’s simple but always delicious.
As an example of her creativity, Maria also developed a lime chicken lumpia that’s a play on a chicken dish her boyfriend’s family.
The creative flavor is a simple braised chicken that’s packed with a ton of lime juice. In addition to her frozen lumpia, ready for frying, Maria sells jarred garlic chili vinegar to dip your lumpia in. The sauce is packed with onions and vinegar flavor, and pairs especially well with the pork since it cuts through the fat.
Maria does offer other options on her menu, including gorgeous so-called grazing boxes.
She says she used to be in charge of the charcuterie boards while working in catering, so she’s always loved making pretty-looking food. She’s also able to express her creative side through the grazing boxes on her menu, which are also easy to share with friends and family, playing into her mission to make you feel like part of the family.
If you’re looking for something sweet to round off your meal filled with lumpia, Maria also offers unique Filipino cuisine-inspired baked goods. So far, she’s sold pandan mochi crinkle cookies and pandan tres leches cake,
both made with an extract from the leaf of a tropical plant. She says her most popular item has to be the crinkle cookies after she made it as part of the variety cookie special during the holidays. Maria used to only make dessert when baking at home for family and friends, so she’s glad she gets to showcase a different set of skills through her baked good offerings at Dine with Claudine.
As an AAPI business owner, Maria has participated in fundraising for the Stop AAPI Hate organization in the last few months through a raised awareness of discrimination Asian-Americans face.
She said she saw a bit of an impact from people from all over the DMV making an effort to support AAPI-owned businesses when selling her baked goods during Bakers Against Racism nationwide bake sale, “In Adversity We Bloom.” Then, Kam and 46, a DMV-based caterer and food truck offering Hawaii and Filipino fare, asked to collaborate with Maria’s business on a pop-up with their truck. Maria is truly a rising star and you 100% should support her business. If you end up getting supplies to make her lumpia, then definitely order her garlic chili vinegar for a dipping sauce option — also great for making a vinegar-based coleslaw!
The Sunday Roast 